Bollywood Buzz

Bappi Lahiri signs Boy George
Noted music director Bappi Lahiri has roped in British singer Boy George to act in his next film titled Love Story 1998. According to Bappi the lead singer of Culture Club plays a friend of the hero. The film will be premiered simultaneously in Mumbai and London in March.

Daler Mehndi is a free man
Daler Mehndi, the internationally-known bhangra-rap singer is no longer bound by an exclusive contract with Magnasound Asia. Daler who cut a number of highly successful albums for Magnasound became a free man on January 1. He can now cut albums for any video company in India or abroad. "I am tasting freedom for the first time. I have finally decided to fly out on my own," says the Dardi rab rab man.

Naseeruddin Shah bereaved
Farrukh Sultan Begum, mother of actor Naseeruddin Shah passed away in the early hours of January 7. She is survived by three sons Zaheeruddin, Zamiruddin and Naseeruddin Shah.

Sunil Dutt plans action against ad agency
Sunil Dutt is very disturbed about the way his wife, the late Nargis’ memory has been treated by an ad agency and he is contemplating action against it. According to Dutt, two months ago a representative from the ad agency rang up Dutt’s daughter, Priya, and told her they were interested in including her mother’s photograph in a calendar they were planning as an honour to great Indian women. Priya said they would have to seek her father’s permission. Dutt was then in the USA, raising funds for the Nargis Dutt Memorial Committee against Cancer. All was forgotten till Dutt received a calendar on New Year’s Day with the photograph of Nargis among several glamorous women. And the calendar was to promote Nivea skin cream. Said a very angry Dutt, “First of all, they didn’t wait to seek my permission. Then they used a dead woman’s photograph to promote a cream. Mrs Dutt never used such a cream. How can they just use her photograph to promote their product? I think it is wrong both ethically and professionally. I am too busy right now but I am contemplating action against the agency.”

Incidentally, a calendar printed by the Government of Maharashtra to honour the great women of Maharashtra also features Durga Khote and Nargis Dutt.

Zor in Dolby Digital, SR and Mono
January 30 will mark multiple releases including biggies like Zor, Banarasi Babu and Vinashak as Ramzan-Idd attractions. Vivek Kumar aka Vicky Kumar, the producer of Zor is planning to release his film in three formats, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR and Mono. Incidentally, his next film too will star a Deol but this time instead of friend Sunny, it will probably be his brother Bobby.

Chandrachur, Mahima signed
Raj Kanwar’s next home production titled Daag will star Chandrachur Singh, Mahima Chowdhury and Sanjay Dutt in a special appearance.

Sanjay Dutt in Pooja Bhatt's next
Pooja Bhatt will soon start another film, if the grapevine is to be believed. To be directed by Robin Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt will head the cast of the film.

Altaf Raja sings for Keemat
Venus has added a song by their prodigy Altaf Raja in their Akshay Kumar-Saif Ali Khan starrer Keemat. The film, directed by Sameer Malkan, has Raveena Tandon and Sonali Bendre opposite the two heroes. Music for the film has been scored by Rajesh Roshan.

Aditya, Ayub in Mela
A 13 minute song was recently picturised for Venus’ Mela. More than 1,000 junior artistes participated in the song sequence along with the main artistes, including Aamir Khan, Twinkle Khanna and Faisal Khan. Meanwhile, Aditya Pancholi has been signed to play the main villain and Ayub Khan has been signed for a cameo role as Twinkle Khanna’s younger brother in the film. The film is being directed by Dharmesh Darshan.

Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa opens in Calcutta
Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa was released at the Nandan Complex in Calcutta. Govind, Jaya Bachchan who plays the title role and Mahasweta Devi, the Jnanpith and Magsaysay award winning writer were present for the first show.

Aamir Khan to resume shooting
Aamir Khan will resume shooting for Dharmesh Darshan’s Mela on a huge set erected at Film City on January 18. Aamir had to discontinue the shoot owing to a bout of Malaria. His condition worsened following a relapse, and had been advised bed rest since then.

Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav's Chakra progresses
Sanjay Dutt, the producer of Mumbai Talking Pictures and his partner, brother-in-law, Kumar Gaurav, are very serious about their first film Chakra. They are shooting their second major schedule with Sanjay and Amrish Puri. Dilip Shukla, the director, has also written the script for the film. "It's a great responsibility to make a film. Our experience has taught us that only proper planning and sincerity can help us make a good film," said Sanjay Dutt.

Jeans in Hindi soon
The well-known filmmaker from South India, Shankar, is negotiating plans to release his Tamil film Jeans in Hindi. Raju Sundaram (Prabhu Deva’s brother), Prashant and Aishwarya Rai play the lead in the film which has lyrics by Javed Akhtar and music by AR Rahman.

Raju Raja Ram to roll soon
Jackie Shroff Entertainment Limited’s film Raju Raja Ram (not Raju Raja Rani as printed inadvertently last week) based on a Marathi play All The Best will go on the floors soon. The film stars Jackie Shroff, Govinda, Salman Khan and Manisha Koirala. The play produced by Mohan Wagh has already completed 1800 shows which is an all-time record in Marathi theatre history.

Barood complete
Producer-director Pramod Chakravorty has completed the entire shooting of his ambitious, big-budget project, Barood, which has been in the making for more than two years. The film has been shot on exotic locales including the snow-capped peaks of Switzerland where the action scenes were shot by experts of some of the best James Bond films. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, Mohnish Bahl, Mohan Joshi, Gulshan Grover and Amrish Puri. It has lyrics by Sameer, music by Anand-Milind and cinematography by Kishore Kapadia. Bharat Shah is the co-producer.

Hu-Tu-Tu to roll in February
Gulzar’s next film Hu-Tu-Tu which was to go on the floors in January will now start next month. Sunil Shetty, Tabu, Dr Mohan Agashe, Vikram Gokhale and Suhasini Mulay play key roles in the film which has music by Vishal and cinematography by Manmohan Singh. By Ali Peter John

Major Saab complete
Director Tinnu Anand has completed shooting ABCL's Major Saab and has even started dubbing for the film. ABCL is planning an early release for the film (the tussle is between KC Bokadia's Lal Badshah and Major Saab). Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Sonali Bendre, Nafisa Ali, Mohan Joshi, Shahbaaz Khan and Ashish Vidyarthi play lead roles. Music is by Anand Raaj Anand, art by Saboo Cyril and cinematography by Ravi K Chandran. The film was also shot at NDA, Khadaknala, Pune.

Saif, Karisma starrer Loveria complete
ABCL's Loveria is complete and dubbing is in progress. Written and directed by Kundan Shah it has Saif Ali Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Mohnish Bahl, Paresh Rawal, Ashok Saraf, Reema, Reeta Bhaduri and Rajiv Varma in key roles. Lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri have been tuned by Jatin-Lalit. Rajesh Joshi is the cinematographer.